Forgiveness
by StupidityNowOffersWisdom
Summary: She doesn't want to hurt him more than necessary, but she already has. Akirai; slight deviation off the end of the ninth episode.


**Forgiveness**

* * *

_"I wish I'd never met him."_

* * *

Her words ring and echo through her as she continues, step by step, on her hunt.

Hunt - is that what she'd degraded herself to? Hunting, scouting, and then killing that one person who understood, who knew, who saw.

Who saw.

He saw who she truly was. Unlike the others. Unlike the Nase siblings, unlike Sakura, unlike Aya-chan, and unlike Ai.

No-one saw her as that one lonely girl with the curse of her clan running through her veins, each drop of blood a deadly reminder of their exile and earned despise.

But some things just have to be done, and some things just have to be left to the people of her blood.

She sighs, and releases the tracking charm. It flutters off, seemingly like a stray orb of hope, flitting through the trees and towards him.

Towards him, towards that one person she couldn't kill, towards that one person who saw the real Mirai. The one who saw a bespectacled beauty instead of an individual with the curse of a clan that would destroy them. The one who understood that one line of 'Do I look like a normal person to you?'.

She hesitates as a tear slips down her cheek before chasing the charm, towards that one person.

That one person who she maybe, maybe, loved. Maybe. Who was she to know anything about love, anyway?

She bats the thought away, and swears she could've been better off not knowing him, not caring, and not living.

Unpleasant indeed.

* * *

_"I'm sorry, senpai."_

* * *

She knows what her decision will be when she sees the charm dive towards him, and break the cage.

_She will have to kill him._

She doesn't accept that, even though she knows, deep down, she has to. She has to, or the Kyoukai no Kanata will truly awaken, and awaken in his body, in his mind, and in his soul. But how does one choose, to let the one person who cares about them the most, die, or live a living death?

She hates Nase Izumi for forcing her into this. She hates her need to exterminate Youmu cloud her judgement. She hates the mutual attraction between the both of them, two outcasts of society, each with their own strange powers.

Her eyes water even more, as the cage barrier clears and she gets a good look at his body. His body is battered, and she can swear she feels the ache and pain radiating from the bruises and scrapes and all those injuries. But why does she care so much, when she has to kill him?

The question lingers in her mind as she pulls her ring from her finger, wondering if she'd ever have another, another ring, but without anything to do with her powers. She bites her lip. Such thoughts, she decided, were never to be thought of. Love, marriage - seriously? Who would ever want to get involved with a Kuriyama if they could help it?

Her phone rings. The male Nase calls, and she draws her attention from imminent bloodshed to what he has to comment on the situation. He speaks, and she listens, and she wonders if whatever he has to say will change her mind, or whatever outcome this last battle may hold. She answers his questions vaguely, impatiently, as he explains, desperately, her possible manipulation.

She doesn't want to hear any of it, and she doesn't care, anymore.

Akihito stirs, and lashes out at her. Her phone gets thrown somewhere in the clearing, her ring flying out of sight, and she struggles to defend herself, scimitar trembling and dissipating under the force of his attack. She can faintly hear Hiroomi's anxious pleads through the conveniently activated speaker, and she knows it's too late for him to do anything for the two of them. He's too far away, in both mind and body. He and Akihito never quite thought about things the same way, barring their strange fetishes. He'd never understand, he'd never understand how Akihito needed to die, and how he needed to die painlessly.

She gets thrown back, and tendrils of raw power snake after her, chasing, demanding, for her payment in blood. She mutters a curse as she gets up, readying another attack. She wants this to be quick - no prolonged pain, no hard feelings, and no regrets.

She doesn't want to hurt him more than necessary, but she already has.

An apology hovers at the tip of her tongue, but she fights it in, because this isn't Akihito she's facing. This is a Youmu that needs to be killed.

And she's sorry for that.

* * *

_"Forgive me."_

* * *

They battle, human and Youmu, neither relenting in their attacks. Both know this - it is a fight to the death. Neither want to accept it, of course. She, for she loses that one person true to her, and he, his life. It's not like he truly knows what's going on, so to speak; but survival instinct does tend to kick in in such situations.

She launches herself into the air, slashing at the fireballs he sends her way, destroying them with her blood. She removes her glasses and sets them down on a rock, before attempting to move closer, to get at that one clean shot where she could kill him painlessly.

She can feel it, her anaemia hindering her somewhat. Her breathing is so erratic, she's almost hyperventilating, and her complexion pales even more, having lost a huge amount of blood so far. She has to end this quick, or all the others will find is a final dead Kuriyama clan member and an immortal Youmu on the loose. And she knows, they'll take him captive, dissect him, investigate, and attempt to understand what exactly it is that grants him his immortality, and use it for their own gains.

And she can't let them. The thought seems to empower her, and she surges forward, dodging his new waves of attacks. They fade, seemingly to let her approach for the last hit. And she does, readying her scimitar to drive it through his torso, and what she might dare say in his last moments of consciousness, human or not.

Her pace quickens, and within moments she's before him, and she almost pauses in shock. His human form seemed to surface, overlaying itself on his Youmu body. She looks away, tears now pouring down her paling face. She doesn't want to do this. She doesn't, and she knows it's impossible for her to kill him while in his human form.

She screams, but continues in trajectory, burying her scimitar in his body to the hilt.

He will die, any moment, she knows, and she slackens her grip and moves to wrap herself around him for the last time. The scimitar dissolves to blood and hurries to return to her swiftly weakening body.

Perhaps they'll die together, she from the blood loss and he from the stab wound.

A fitting end, she muses. Perfect for two outcasts.

Perfect for the two most hated creatures of the supernatural world.

She tilts her head upwards to murmur her apologies, her love, and her regrets. She doesn't care if it's the Youmu or human listening, understanding her now. She just wants some part of Kanbara Akihito to understand, to know.

And he does, leaning down to capture her lips in a chaste kiss.

What little blood she has left rushes to her cheeks, and they stare into each other's eyes. Hers, chestnut, and his, the brilliant topaz of hope, of life, of light, and of love.

Nothing needs to be said, for they both understand.

* * *

_"Do you think I look like a normal person...?"_

* * *

"Y-you're unpleasant," she stammers, burying her facer in his chest, sobbing.

She just gets him back, and now she's about to lose him, again.

They both collapse to the ground in exhaustion, and await death's arrival. Adrenaline has left them both, and their injuries have come in full force to discomfort them. Minutes pass as they lay in the other's embrace, unwilling to let go.

His eyes pick out something she can't see, and he struggles to reach for it - or well, them. Her glasses and her ring.

He crawls back towards her, glasses held carefully between his teeth, and ring between his fingers. She sees her glasses, and the pair he ordered for her birthday sticking out of his pant pocket.

He winces, but pulls the pair of black glasses from his pocket, unfolding them and gently placing them on her. Her vision immediately focuses, and she sees the emotion in his eyes in greater clarity. He must have known her exact degree - and this pair was so much better than her old one, for she couldn't quite afford to get a new set of lenses after her degree worsened as the years went by.

He startled her somewhat, asking that one familiar question one final time.

Her eyes widen, and she struggles against the pain to nod an affirmative. His eyes glisten slightly, and he reaches for her hand to slip her ring back on.

"I believe this is yours," he declares hoarsely, throat hurting from the lack of water in his system.

She inches towards him, and they kiss once more, before death truly comes to claim them.

* * *

**A/N:** I really had to write this - some way or another or it'd destroy me from inside out if I didn't write this. I really, really, really hate Kyoani for toying with my feels for this, but goddamn it, they're truly amazing in that way. On a a side note, I've always seen the relationship between Akihito and Mirai as a very quiet, but an emotional one (regardless of the fact that he _is_ very loud in his proclamations of loving glasses-wearing girls, aka Mirai), due to their different forms of being outcasts from society (he being a Hanyou and she being a Kuriyama). Also, if you're from NYGH, did you spot the not-so-subtle reference to L?

And yes, I know I omitted the part about Akihito wanting Mirai to live, but I just couldn't find a suitable way to slip that part in. Again, this is fanfiction, and I need not be canon-compliant.


End file.
